Key Prescription Help

AS PEOPLE AGE AND health begins to decline, they need more prescription drugs. Unfortunately, too many Americans who are 65 and older do not have prescription drug insurance.

Many pharmaceuticals are extremely expensive for someone on a fixed income, and no one should have to make a budgetary decision of choosing between food or medicine.

The issue of senior citizens and prescription drug coverage was an important one in the last presidential election, and it will continue to be an important issue.

State Sen. Robert Duncan heard about a good solution for senior Texans from Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander, and he has taken a key step to implement it.

Mr. Duncan has introduced a bill that would allow Texans who are 65 and older to purchase prescription drugs at Medicaid prices, regardless of whether their incomes were low enough to qualify for Medicaid.

Texans at 65 are old enough to qualify for Medicare, and that is good. But Medicare does not cover prescriptions, and the bill would allow seniors to have an important break in drug costs.

Several states have put such plans into law, and we hope that Texas will soon join their number.

It would please us if all 50 states implemented such plans. It would help seniors all over the nation financially and would settle a burning national issue in a good and logical manner.